The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)

by Apollodorus

  The women of Lemnos; in the land of the Doliones

  17 They set out to sea* with Jason in command, and called in at Lemnos. It happened that there were no men at all in Lemnos at that time, and the island was ruled by a queen, Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas. The reason was this. The Lemnian women had failed to honour Aphrodite, and the goddess had afflicted them with an evil smell; as a result, their husbands had taken women captive from the neighbouring land of Thrace and slept with them instead. The Lemnian women had responded to this slight by murdering their fathers and husbands—Hypsipyle alone had saved her father, Thoas, by hiding him away. So the Argonauts put in at Lemnos while it was under female rule, and they had intercourse with the women there. Hypsipyle slept with Jason and bore him two sons, Euneos and Nebrophonos.

  18 After Lemnos, they visited the land of the Doliones, who were ruled by Cyzicos; and he offered them a friendly welcome. But as they were sailing from his land by night, they met with contrary winds, and without realizing it, landed once more amongst the Doliones. The Doliones for their part took them for an army of Pelasgians—for it happened that they were under constant attack from the Pelasgians—and joined battle with them by night, each side failing to recognize the other. The Argonauts killed many of their opponents, including Cyzicos; but when day came, and they saw what had happened, they lamented bitterly, cut off their hair, and offered Cyzicos a splendid burial. After the funeral, they sailed on their way, and put in at Mysia.

  The loss of Hylas and abandonment of Heracles

  19 There they abandoned Heracles and Polyphemos.* For Hylas, the son of Theiodamas and beloved of Heracles, had been sent to draw water, and was snatched away by nymphs* because of his beauty. Polyphemos heard him cry out, and drawing his sword, he set out after him, thinking that robbers were dragging him off. When he came across Heracles, he told him what had happened; and while the two of them were searching for Hylas, the ship put out to sea. Polyphemos founded the city of Cios in Mysia, and ruled there as king, while Heracles for his part returned to Argos. According to Herodoros, however, Heracles never set out on a voyage at all at that time, but was serving as a slave with Omphale; and Pherecydes says that he was left behind at Aphetai in Thessaly, because the Argo had spoken out to say that she was unable to bear his weight. But Demaratos has recorded that he sailed all the way to Colchis, while Dionysios goes so far as to call him the leader of the Argonauts.*

  Polydeuces and Amycos; Phineus and the Harpies; the Clashing Rocks

  20 They left Mysia for the land of the Bebryces, which was under the rule of Amycos, son of Poseidon and a Bithynian [nymph]. A man of spirit, he made strangers who landed there box with him, and in that way brought about their death. So he went up to the Argo on this occasion too, and challenged the best man present to a boxing match. Polydeuces agreed to take him on and killed him with a blow to the elbow; and when the Bebryces rushed forward to attack Polydeuces, the heroes snatched up their weapons and slaughtered many of them as they were fleeing.

  21 From there they put out to sea again, and called in at Salmydessos in Thrace, the home of Phineus, a diviner who had lost the use of his eyes. Some call him a son of Agenor, others a son of Poseidon. According to some accounts, he was blinded by the gods for foretelling the future to the human race, or, according to others, by Boreas and the Argonauts because he had blinded his own children at the urging of their stepmother,* or again, by Poseidon for having informed the children of Phrixos of the route from Colchis to Greece.

  The gods had also sent the Harpies* against him. These were female creatures with wings, and when a table was laid in front of Phineus, they would fly down from the sky and snatch away most of the food, and even the little that they left behind stank so strongly that nobody could touch it. When the Argonauts wanted to consult Phineus about their route, he replied that he would advise them on their route if they would rid him of the Harpies. So they set a table of food in front of him, and the Harpies immediately swooped down with loud cries and snatched the food away. At the sight of this, Zetes and Calais, the sons of Boreas, who were themselves endowed with wings, drew their swords and chased the Harpies through the air. Now it was fated that the Harpies would die at the hands of the sons of Boreas, and equally that the sons of Boreas would die if they failed to catch those they pursued.* During the chase one of the Harpies dropped into the Tigres, a Peloponnesian river, which is now called the Harpys after her; this Harpy was called Nicothoe, or according to others, Aellopous. As for the other, called Ocypete, or, according to some accounts, Ocythoe (or Ocypode according to Hesiod*), she fled along the Propontis until she arrived at the Echinadian Islands, which are now called the Strophades* because of her; for she turned in her flight on reaching them, and while she was over their shore fell down exhausted along with her pursuer. According to Apollonius, however, in the Argonautica* the Harpies were pursued as far as the Strophades, but they came to no harm after they had sworn an oath that they would stop persecuting Phineus.

  22 When he had been delivered from the Harpies, Phineus told the Argonauts what route to take, and advised them about the Symplegades [or Clashing Rocks], which lay before them in the sea. These were rocks of enormous size which were forced into collision by the power of the winds and closed the passage through the sea. Thick mist swirled over them, the crash was tremendous, and it was impossible even for birds to pass between them. So Phineus advised the Argonauts to release a dove between the rocks, and if they saw it pass safely between them, to sail through in full confidence, but if it was destroyed, to make no attempt to force a passage. After hearing his advice, they put out to sea, and when they were close to the rocks, they released a dove from the prow; and as she flew, only the tip of her tail was snipped off as the rocks clashed together. So they waited until the rocks had drawn apart again, and with hard rowing and some assistance from Hera they made their way through, although the tip of the vessel’s poop was shorn away. Ever afterwards, the Symplegades stood motionless; for it was fated that when a ship had passed through them, they would remain completely still.

  23 The Argonauts arrived next at the land of the Mariandynians, where they received a friendly welcome from Lycos, their king. It was there that Idmon the diviner met his death, from a wound inflicted by a boar; Tiphys died there too, and Ancaios took over as steersman of the ship.

  Jason, Medea, and the seizure of the fleece

  They sailed past the River Thermodon and the Caucasos to arrive at the River Phasis, which lies in the land of Colchis. When the ship was moored, Jason visited Aietes, and explained what Pelias had told him to do and asked to be given the fleece. Aietes promised to hand it over if, without assistance, Jason yoked the bronze-footed bulls. These were two wild bulls that he owned, of exceptional size, a gift from Hephaistos; they had hooves of bronze and breathed fire from their mouths. And after he had yoked these bulls, Jason was to sow some dragon’s teeth—for Aietes had received from Athene half of the dragon’s teeth that Cadmos had sowed at Thebes.* When Jason was at his wit’s end about how he could yoke the bulls, Medea fell in love with him. Now Medea, the daughter of Aietes and Eiduia, daughter of Oceanos, was a sorceress; and fearing that Jason might be killed by the bulls, she offered, in secret from her father, to help him yoke the bulls and obtain the fleece, if he would swear to accept her as his wife and take her with him when he sailed back to Greece. When he swore to do so, she gave him a potion,* and told him to rub it on to his shield and spear and his body when he set out to yoke the bulls, explaining that when he had been anointed with the potion, he would be invulnerable for a day to fire and steel alike. And she revealed to him that when the teeth were sown, armed men would spring up from the ground to attack him; and when he saw them gathered in a group, he should throw stones into their midst from a distance, which would cause them to fight amongst themselves, and he should then kill them. On hearing Medea’s advice, Jason rubbed himself with the potion and made his way to the temple grove to search for the bulls; and alt
hough they charged him breathing flame, he put them under the yoke.* And then, after he had sowed the dragon’s teeth, armed men sprang up from the ground. Where he saw a number of them together, he hurled stones at them, without revealing his presence; and as they were fighting amongst themselves, he went forward and killed them.

  Although the bulls had been yoked, Aietes refused to surrender the fleece; and he wanted to set fire to the Argo and kill its crew. Before he could put his plan into effect, Medea guided Jason to the fleece by night and used her drugs to send the guardian dragon to sleep, and then, carrying the fleece with her, made her way back to the Argo with Jason. She was accompanied by her brother Apsyrtos too. And during the night, the Argonauts put out to sea with them.

  The murder of Apsyrtos and journey to Circe

  24 When Aietes discovered what Medea had dared to do, he set out in pursuit of the ship. But when Medea saw him drawing close, she murdered her brother,* cut him up, and threw the pieces into the sea; and as Aietes delayed to gather up the limbs of his child, he fell behind in the chase. So he turned his ship around, and buried what he had saved of his son’s remains, naming the burial place Tomoi * But he sent many of the Colchians in search of the Argo, threatening that if they failed to recover Medea, they themselves would undergo the punishment intended for her. So they separated and carried the search to many different areas.

  The Argonauts had already passed the River Eridanos when Zeus, angered by the murder of Apsyrtos, sent a violent storm against them and drove them off course. And as they were sailing past the Apsyrtides Islands, the ship spoke out, saying that the anger of Zeus would not come to an end unless they travelled to Ausonia to be purified by Circe for the murder of Apsyrtos. So they sailed past the Ligurian and Celtic peoples,* crossed the Sardinian Sea, skirted Tyrrhenia, and arrived at Aiaie,* where they approached Circe as suppliants and were purified.

  To the land of the Phaeacians

  25 As they were sailing past the Sirens, Orpheus sang a song to counter their own,* thus holding the Argonauts back. Boutes alone tried to swim off towards them; but Aphrodite carried him off and settled him at Lilybaeum.

  After the Sirens, Charybdis and Scylla awaited the ship, and then the Wandering Rocks, over which quantities of flame and smoke were seen to rise. But Thetis guided the ship through with the help of the Nereids, in response to a summons from Hera.

  After skirting the island of Thrinacia, which held the cattle of the Sun, they came to the island of the Phaeacians,* Corcyra, which was ruled by Alcinoos. Now the Colchians had been unable to find the ship, and some of them went to settle in the Ceraunian mountains, while others travelled to Illyria and colonized the Apsyrtides islands. But some of them came to Phaeacia, and finding the Argo there, they asked Alcinoos to surrender Medea to them. He replied that if she had already slept with Jason, he would leave her with him, but if she were still a virgin, he would send her back to her father. But Arete, the wife of Alcinoos, took the initiative by marrying Medea to Jason; so the Colchians settled amongst the Phaeacians, and the Argonauts set out to sea with Medea.

  Anaphe; Talos in Crete

  26 As they were sailing along by night, they met with a violent storm;* but Apollo, taking position on the summit of the Melantian Rocks, shot an arrow into the sea, causing a flash of lightning. They then beheld an island close at hand, where they cast anchor, naming it Anaphe* because it had appeared to them against all expectation. They raised an altar there to Radiant Apollo, and when they had sacrificed, they settled down to feast. Now Medea had received as a gift from Arete twelve servant girls, who aimed playful jokes at the heroes; and that is why it is the custom even to this day for the women to make jokes* at the sacrifice.

  After setting sail from Anaphe, they were prevented from coming ashore at Crete by Talos. It is said by some that he belonged to the race of bronze, while according to others, he had been given to Minos by Hephaistos; he was a man of bronze,* or, according to some accounts, a bull.* He had a single vein* which ran from his neck to his ankles, with a bronze nail driven into its end. Talos kept watch by running round the island three times a day, and so on this occasion too, when he saw the Argo approaching, he pelted it with stones. But Medea tricked him and caused his death. According to some, she drove him mad with her drugs, while according to others, she promised to make him immortal and pulled out the nail, causing him to die when all the ichor flowed away.* And there are some who say that Poias killed him, by shooting an arrow into his ankle.

  The return to Iolcos and murder of Pelias

  After remaining in Crete for a single night, they made Aegina their next port of call, to replenish their water; and a competition developed* between them as they fetched the water. From there they sailed between Euboea and Locris to arrive at Iolcos, completing the entire voyage in four months.

  27 Pelias had abandoned any expectation of the Argonauts’ return and wanted to put Aison to death.* Aison asked, however, that he should be allowed to take his own life, and while he was offering a sacrifice, he drank the bull’s blood* without fear, and died. Jason’s mother cursed Pelias and hanged herself, leaving an infant son, Promachos; but Pelias killed even the son whom she had left behind. When Jason arrived back, he delivered the fleece, and desiring vengeance for the wrongs that he had suffered, he waited for a suitable occasion. For the present, he sailed to the Isthmus with the other heroes and dedicated the ship to Poseidon; but afterwards, he urged Medea to find a way to punish Pelias. So she went to the palace of Pelias and persuaded his daughters to chop their father into small pieces and boil him, promising to restore his youth with her drugs; and to gain their confidence, she cut up a ram and changed it into a lamb by boiling it. After that, they believed her, and chopped their father to pieces and boiled him.* Acastos buried his father with the help of the inhabitants of Iolcos, and banished Jason and Medea from the country.

  The later history of Medea

  28 They went to Corinth, where they lived happily for ten years, until Creon,* the king of Corinth, offered his daughter, Glauce, to Jason, who then put Medea aside and married her. So Medea, calling as her witnesses the gods whom Jason had sworn by, and after many a reproach to Jason for his ingratitude, sent his bride a robe steeped in poison. When Glauce put it on she was consumed by a raging fire,* as was her father when he tried to save her. And then, after killing Mermeros and Pheres, her children by Jason, Medea received from the Sun a chariot* drawn by winged dragons, and fled on it to Athens. According to another account, when Medea was fleeing, she abandoned her children, who were still very young, by seating them as suppliants on the altar of Hera Acraia; but the Corinthians forced them away* from the altar and inflicted fatal injuries on them.

  So Medea went to Athens, where she married Aigeus,* and bore him a son, Medos.* Afterwards, however, when she tried to plot against Theseus, she was driven from Athens and went into exile with her son. Medos conquered many of the barbarians, and gave the name Media to the whole territory under his control. He died during an expedition against the Indians. Medea returned to Colchis without being recognized, and finding that Aietes had been deprived of his kingdom by his brother Perses, she killed Perses* and restored the throne to her father.

  BOOK II

  4. Early Argive mythology (the Inachids, Belid line)

  The early descendants of Inachos

  1 Now that we have given a full account of the family of Deucalion, let us proceed to that of Inachos.

  Oceanos and Tethys had a son, Inachos,* after whom the River Inachos in Argos is named. To Inachos and Melia, daughter of Oceanos, two sons were born, Phoroneus and Aigialeus.* Aigialeus died without offspring, and the whole country was called Aigialeia; and Phoroneus, who reigned over the whole of what would later be called the Peloponnese, fathered Apis and Niobe by a nymph, Teledice.

  Apis turned his power into a tyranny; a brutal tyrant, he named the Peloponnese Apia after himself, and died childless as the result of a plot by Thelxion and Telchis. He was reckone
d to be a god and was called Sarapis.* Niobe, for her part, had a son, Argos, by Zeus (she was the first mortal woman with whom he had intercourse), and according to Acousilaos, she had another son, Pelasgos,* and the inhabitants of the Peloponnese were called the Pelasgians* after him. According to Hesiod, however, Pelasgos was born from the earth; 2 but we will return to him later. Argos took over the kingdom, calling the Peloponnese Argos* after himself; and marrying Evadne, daughter of Strymon and Neaira, he had four sons, Ecbasos, Peiras, Epidauros, and Criasos, who succeeded to the kingdom in his turn.

  Ecbasos had a son, Agenor, and Agenor had a son, Argos, the one who is known as Panoptes [or the All-Seeing]. He had eyes all over his body,* and being endowed with exceptional strength, he killed the bull that was bringing ruin to Arcadia and clothed himself in its hide; and when a Satyr ill-treated the Arcadians and robbed them of their cattle, he confronted him and put him to death. And they say of Echidna* too, the daughter of Tartaros and Ge who used to snatch away passers-by, that Argos watched out until she was asleep and then killed her. He also avenged the death of Apis by killing those who were responsible.

  The wanderings of Io, and division of the Inachid line

  3 Argos and Ismene, daughter of Asopos, had a son, Iasos, who is said to have been the father of Io. But Castor, the author of the Chronicles, and many of the tragic poets claim that Io was a daughter of Inachos; while Hesiod and Acousilaos say that she was a daughter of Peiren.* Zeus seduced Io* while she held the priesthood of Hera, but when Hera found him out, he transformed the girl with a touch into a white cow and swore that he had never made love with her; and for that reason, according to Hesiod, oaths made for love attract no anger from the gods. But Hera asked Zeus for the cow, and placed it under the guard of Argos the All-Seeing. (Pherecydes says that this Argos was a son of Arestor, Asclepiades that he was a son of Inachos, and Cercops that he was a son of Argos and Ismene, daughter of Asopos, while according to Acousilaos, he was born from the earth.) Hera tethered the cow to the olive tree which lay in the sacred grove of the Mycenaeans. Zeus ordered Hermes to steal the cow, but the plan was betrayed by Hierax,* and since Hermes was now unable to steal the cow without being seen, he killed Argos by throwing a stone at him; and that is how he came to be called Argeiphontes* Hera sent a gadfly after the cow; the animal went first to the Ionian Gulf,* which bears that name because of her, and then, after travelling through Illyria and over Mount Haimos, she crossed what was then called the Thracian Sound but is now called the Bosporos* because of her. From there she went to Scythia and the land of the Cimmerians, wandering a great distance overland and swimming a great distance through the sea, in Europe and Asia alike, until she finally arrived in Egypt, where she recovered her original form, and gave birth to a son, Epaphos, by the banks of the River Nile. Hera asked the Curetes to steal the child away, and they did so. When Zeus learned of it, he killed the Curetes, and Io, for her part, went in search of her child. She wandered through the whole of Syria (for it had been revealed to her that the wife of the king of Byblos was nursing her son there), and when she had discovered Epaphos,* she returned to Egypt and married Telegonos, who was king of the Egyptians at the time. She erected a statue of Demeter, whom the Egyptians called Isis; and they gave this name, Isis, to Io likewise.